Another possibility is that in concentrating on avoiding one set of 'seen' wires, or even just poles, the second set goes unnoticed.
I will second the opinion that having a second crewmember mentally distanced from the patient is a good thing. Not related to this incident, just general support.
Caution, hangar story:
I recall carefully recceing a winter, night LZ with a military crew of 4. We indentified 2 sets of wires and very careful avoided them with all eyes on a hair trigger.
In the morning we were all stunned at how close we had come to a third, very thin set that none of us had seen the night before.
Last edited by pilot and apprentice; 16th Jan 2014 at 20:22.
Reason: grammar